Drilled, cased well



June 26, 1962 L.. MLLER DRILLED, cAsED WELL original Filed March 19, 1956 ,.R OE 1m. M 8.0 VN .M D J@ M M MM ,y

/QrroR/vfrs United States Patent O 3,040,810 DRILLED, CASED WELL Ludwig Mller, Heinrich-Heine Strasse 41, Marburg (Lahn), Germany Original application Mar. 19, 1956, Ser. No. 572,595, now Patent No. 2,952,130, dated Sept. 13, 1960. Divided and this application July 22, 1960, Ser. No. 44,764 Claims priority, application Germany Mar. 28, 1955 Claims. (Cl. 166-46) 4 The present invention relates to the sinking and casing of an artestian or cased Well.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 572,595, filed March 19, 1956, and now Patent No. 2,952,130.

The method of sinking such well as heretofore known is to sink a bore hole of the required depth and then' to case the bore hole with tubing made, for instance, of concrete. Such method of sinking a Well is expensive and time consuming, and there is always a danger that impurities seep into the well water.

It is the broad object of the invention novel and improved structure for sinking well of the general kind above referred to.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved structure which greatly reduces the required sinking and casing work by permitting completion of sinking and casing in one operation.

Another more specific object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved well-sinking structure by means of which is tightly cased well hole of the required depth can be produced in a rapid and inexpensive fashion.

Re aforementioned objects, features and advantages and other objects, features and advantages which will be pointed out hereinafter, are attained by providing a hollow pile shaft terminating at its leading end in a transversely enlarged pile foot. The pile foot and preferably also the lower part of the pile shaft include ports for the ingress of well water into the pile shaft to be pumped out ina conventional manner after suitable filtering. The pile shaft is driven into the ground to the required depth and the installation of the well is completed when the driving operation is completed, except, of course, for the installation of the pumping and fine filtering equipment.

Preferably a closure member encompasses the pile shaft at an intermediate point thereof. The level of the closure member is selected in accordance with .the depth of the lwater carrying soil strata. The shaft portion below the closure member has the ports for the ingress of water and the Vupper shaft portion is encased with cementitious material such as concrete which is fed in fiowable condition down the clearance formed by the enlarged pile foot about the pile shaft along the entire length thereof during the driving operation. The feeding of the cementitious material is effected by means of one or several pipes extending along the outside of the upper pile shaft portion to the depth of the closure member.

It has further been found advantageous to provide hollow clearance lugs including a multitude of small apertures in front of the ports. These apertured lugs constitute coarse filters for the well water flowing into the pile shaft through the ports. Within the lugsthere is preferably arranged, spaced apart from the apertured lug wall, a baie plate for retaining possibly washed-in soil and other solid particles.

In the accopanying drawing several preferred embodiments of the invention are shown by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

In the drawing:

FIG. l is an elevational sectional view of a pile structure according to the invention.

-FIG. 2 is a section taken on line Il-II of FIG. 1.

to provide a and casing a 3,040,810 Patented June 26, 1962 ICC FIG. 3 is a section taken on line III-III of FIG. 1, and,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a modification of the pile structure according to the invention.

Referring now to the figures 4in deail, the well structure according to the invention is generally designated by 1. It comprises a hollow pile shaft 6, preferably in tubular `form and made of steel. Shaft 6 can be driven into the ground and mounts at its lower end a hollow pile foot 3, the transverse peripheral outline of which is wider than the diameter of shaft 6. The foot terminates in a wedge or chisel 2 to facilitate driving of the shaft. The upper side of the foot is covered by a plate 12 formed with a multitude of small openings 13 through which water can enter into the foot and then into the shaft. The shaft itself is also provided with a plurality of ports 8. Each of the ports is surrounded by a clearance lug 9. The outer walls of lugs 9 also include smallapertures 10 to permit ingress of Water into the shaft through ports 8. A baffie plate 11 is mounted within each lug parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft to retain possibly flushed-in soil and other solid particles. As a result the water entering the pile shaft proper through ports 8 is already purified to a certain extent. The size of apertures 10 is so selected that'coarser particles such as gravel, etc. cannot penetrate. A closure member 14 in the form of a collar is secured to shaft 6 above the level of lthe uppermost clearance lug. Collars 14 serve to seal off the annular clearance which will be formed about shaft 6 due to the enlarged transverse outline of foot 3 when the pile shaft is driven into the ground. Shaft 6 is upwardly continued by a hollow tubular shaft 4, preferably of a thinner Wall gauge than shaft 6. As can be clearly seen in FIG. l, shaft 4 is telescoped into shaft 6 and rests upon a shoulder formed in shaft 6. The upper end of shaft 4 is closed by a cap 7 which mounts an annular plate 18. Plate 18 is formed with several, circumferentially spaced bores 19 through which feed pipes 5 can be extended. Pipes 5 serve to feed hardening cementitious material such as concrete in flowable form into the space between shaft 4 and the surrounding soil. The cementitious material is preferably fed at high pressure so that it penetrates to a certain extent into the adjacent soil layers. As a result, the space above shaft 4 is gradually filled with concrete, thereby encasing shaft 4 with a jacket anchoring the pile shaft within the ground and `sealing the space below collar 14 from the upper soil strata. In the event the well hole -is Very deep successive lengths of pile shafts 4 may be encased.

Collar 14 is shown as being conical in -its lower part and cylindrical in its upper part 15. The collar is braced against shaft 4 by radial struts 16. These struts divide the space defined by the cylindrical collar portion 15 in four compartments which are preferably stuffed with hemp, cotton and other suitable stuffing material after the feed pipes 5 have been inserted and before the shaft is driven.

When now the cementitious material is fed down pipes 5 which terminate within collar part 15, the material rising within the collar will somewhat lift the pressed-in cotton or other sealing material and the same will become gradually saturated with the cementitious material whereby a tight seal of the hollow space below collar 14 is assured. During the feeding operation pipes 5 are preferably gradually lifted so that pile shaft 4 becomes completely encased as the lifting of pipes 5 progresses.

Due to the encasing of the thin-walled shaft 4, a Water jacket will form about the lower shaft portion 6. Water seeping out of the soil strata above collar 14 cannot seep downwardly along the pile shaft due to the effective seal formed by collar 14 even through the upper soil strata have been penetrated by the pile shaft during the driving operation. As a result, upper strata water E which is often polluted cannot penetrate into the water supply formed by the water jacket about shaft 6.

The water is pumped out of shaft 6 by means of a conventional Well pump and is fine-filtered by filter-ing equipment well known for theY purpose. i'

The maximum diameter of collar 14 is preferably somewhat wider than the maximum width of foot 3 to assure further that collar 14 is pressed tightly against the surrounding soil.

According to FIG. 4, the clearance lugs 9 are replaced by a iilter tube i7 which extends from collar i4 to 4foot 3 and is radially spaced from shaft 6. Filter tube 17, which may be made of any suitable material such as metal, for instance, steel or plastic, has a somewhat smaller diameter than the maximum width of pile foot 3 and is driven into the ground simultaneously lwith the shaft. Tube 17 may be in several sections which are then joined by suitable clamps.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to certain now preferred examples and embodiments of the invention it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is intended, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims;

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l'; The method of sinking a well hole comprising the steps of providing a hollow pile shaft having a lower portion including water inlet ports and terminating in a transversely enlarged hollow pile foot and an upper portion, said shaft also mounting an outer closure member encompassing the pile shaft between the upper and the lower portion thereof forcibly driving said pile shaft into the ground to a depth such that said closure member is below ground and the lowerV pile shaft portion penetrates into a water bearing ground strata, the pile foot forming a clearance about the pile shaft during the driving thereof, said clearance being divided by the closure member in an upper and a lower part, and feeding cementitious material into the clearance part above said closure member to encase the upper pile portionwith a jacket of cementitious material.

2. A structure for sinking and encasing a well hole, said structure comprising a hollow pile shaft terminating at one end in a transversely enlarged hollow pile foot,

5., said pile shaft having a lower portion including water inlet ports and an upper portion having a solid wall, and a closure collar encompassing said pile shaft land secured to the same between the yupper and lower portions thereof and a jacket of hardened cementitious material encasing the pile portion above said collar.

3. A structure for sinking and encasing a well hole, said structure comprising a hollow pile shaft terminating at one end in a transversely enlarged hollow pile foot, said pile shaft having a lower portion including water inlet ports and an upper portion having a solid wall, a closure collar encompassing said pile shaft and secured to the same between the upper and lower portions thereof, external feed pipes terminating above said closure collar for feeding cementitious material along the upper pile portion to approximately the level of said closure collar, to encase said upper pile portion with a cementitions jacket and mounting means supported on the upper pile portion and supporting said pipes for upward withdrawal thereof.

4. A structure according to claim 2 and also compris- -ing hollow clearance lugs secured to the lower pile portion at the level of the ports therein and surrounding the same, each of said lugs including in a Wall a multitude of small apertures constituting a coarse lfilter for water seeping into the lower pile shaft portion through the ports therein.

5. A structure according to claim 4 and comprising a. baffle plate mounted within each lug spaced apart from the apertured wall thereof and parallel to the axis of the pile shaft. p

6. A structure according to claim 2 and comprising a tinely perforated filter pipe encompassing the lower pile portion between said collar and said foot.

7. A structure according to claim 2 wherein said closure collar has a conical portion secured with its narrow end to the pile shaft and continued at its wide end' in a cylindrical portion, said cylindrical portion facing upwardly in reference to the lower pile portion.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,518,390 Cater Dec. 9, 1924 1,762,012 Every June 3,' 1930 2,286,835 Robinson et al June 16, 1942 2,924,948 Mueller Feb. 16, 1960 

